U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams Encourages Black Americans to Take Vaccine

Public health officials and community leaders who are concerned about COVID-19 vaccine skepticism are speaking up and trying to build trust, especially among African Americans and other minorities.

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, is working with faith leaders, community groups and fraternities and sororities to discuss the vaccine.

“Nothing has been in my heart more than this issue over the past several weeks to months,” he told CNN on Monday.

“I’ve been working with Pfizer, with Moderna, with AstraZeneca, with Johnson & Johnson to make sure we have appropriate numbers of minorities enrolled in these vaccine trials so that people can understand that they are safe,” he said.

Adams said he hopes that the independent review boards for the clinical trials, as well as the CDC and FDA advisory groups, will help people to feel confident about vaccine safety, efficacy and side effects.

He emphasized that regulations are in place to protect Americans from incidents such as the Tuskegee experiment, which purposely left 400 Black men in Alabama untreated for syphilis between 1932-1972 so researchers could study the “natural course” of the disease. Even after penicillin became the standard treatment for syphilis in 1947 that could stop long-term organ damage, the experiment continued, which has built distrust in the U.S. health care system. Ultimately, 128 study participants died from syphilis and related complications, according to the CDC.

Adams said he hopes public health experts can shift that perspective in relation to the COVID-19 vaccine.

“There are tens of thousands of Black and brown people dying every year because they are distrustful of the system, in many cases rightly so, but also because they’re not getting the facts to help restore their trust in the system,” he told CNN.

[SOURCE: WEBMD]

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams meant well, but...

By George L. Cook III, AfricaAmericanReports.Com

I understand some of the anger directed at US Surgeon General Jerome Adams for his message to African Americans about the impact the Covid-19 pandemic is having on Black Communities. Although I have an issue with one part of his speech I also believe he meant well and it was mainly the delivery that was flawed.

Although I don't like hearing stereotypical terms like "Big Mama" and don't know anyone that says that, I understand Adams was clumsily trying to make a connection to an African American audience.

I have no problem at all with the use of terms like "pop pop" because my daughter called her grandpa that.

Adams was right in saying communities of color are more vulnerable to coronavirus complications and fatalities because they suffer disproportionately from chronic health conditions, and due to the “burden of social ills.”

Where Adams went wrong was when he asked African Americans to avoid alcohol, tobacco, and drugs as if we're the only segment of the country that has those vices. He unintentionally made it seem as many Black Americans have those vices and that's why we are so impacted by Covid-19.

Unfortunately those infuriating words took the focus off the main message of his speech. He did try to clean it up later but the damage had been done.

That being said it is important that we as African Americans follow all of the Covid-19 guidelines meant to protect us and others.

Stay home if at all possible, wear a face mask when you must leave home, practice social distancing, and wash your hands often.

Take care of yourselves!